iOS

Jailbreak

Cydia

One of the main reasons to own an Apple TV is the fact that it allows you to share everything on your Macís screen with the TV in your living room. If thereís a video on the Internet that you canít find on one of the many Apple TV apps, you donít have to worry about it; just share your screen and enjoy. This feature is causing Google and Netflix to feel tired with Apple having all of the fun when it comes to wireless video streaming between devices, causing them to come up with their own solution to compete with AirPlay. The new protocol is called DIAL, and like Android, itís free and already has some big companies backing the initiative.

Dial stands for "Discovery and Launch,Ē and companies such as BBC, Hulu, Samsung and Sony are all eager to support it. Overall itís a simple protocol that 2nd screen devices (such as a smartphones) can use to discover and launch apps on 1st screen devices (such as your TV, set-top box, or Blu-ray player). It functions very similarly to AirPlay in the way that it can also detect compatible devices in the area and open up a connection between the two to start streaming video. The folks over at GigaOm have a great synopsis of how DIAL will be used in the real world:

With DIAL, the Netflix app on your phone will automatically discover that there is a device with a Netflix app connected to your TV. It will fire up that app, and then the two apps are free to do whatever they want ó which presumably involves some healthy binge-viewing.

All users really care about though is whether DIAL will be better than AirPlay, a question that is difficult to determine. As of right now, DIAL makes it easier to get Netflix streaming on your TV when youíre browsing it on your smartphone but with AirPlay you can stream any video from your MacBook to your TV. DIAL will also be supported by more companies on more devices than AirPlay will be, but if youíre already set up with an Apple ecosystem, this probably wonít be an issue for you. As of right now, it doesnít look like DIAL actually supports screen sharing but that may be a feature that is in the works. With AirPlay users will obviously need to purchase the Apple TV for $99 to get video onto your flatscreen, whereas many Samsung, LG, and Sony TVs from 2012 and onward can support DIAL with a minor software update.

Although both AirPlay and Dial compete in the same area, both have separate skills that make for valuable tools. Apple and Google could add the missing skills to Dial and AirPlay to make the feature sets more even, a move that wouldnít be a surprise in the future. Then again, Apple might unveil their own HDTV soon, a move that would completely 1-Up DIAL. Weíll have to just be patient to see.

I personally hate Netflix (not the idea but the employees). Constantly ripping off the consumer even after their stock plummets. They were doing great when they had a great deal then they try to squeeze money out of us and lose hundreds of thousands of subscribers

Was thinking about buying an apple tv so I Went to apple store today to inquire if I could stream my torrent movies to Apple TV because I already have a ps3 with Netflix so that's all I would really use it for. The very helpful employee told me about the ps3 media server to stream wirelessly any video to my ps3 from my MacBook Pro ... I was floored!!
How did I not know about this?
Anyway I see no need for the Apple TV anymore

Was thinking about buying an apple tv so I Went to apple store today to inquire if I could stream my torrent movies to Apple TV because I already have a ps3 with Netflix so that's all I would really use it for. The very helpful employee told me about the ps3 media server to stream wirelessly any video to my ps3 from my MacBook Pro ... I was floored!!
How did I not know about this?
Anyway I see no need for the Apple TV anymore

You can do the same with your Mac to Apple TV. In fact with the Apple TV you can mirror your entire Mac screen and use your tv as a monitor if you want.

You can do the same with your Mac to Apple TV. In fact with the Apple TV you can mirror your entire Mac screen and use your tv as a monitor if you want.

Also with AirPlay you can display video from your other iDevices.

I have the newest iPad and i5 so I'm sure Ill get the Apple TV as well but it's nice that the ps3 videos don't have to be in iTunes format I can stream navy format and so far from what I've tried since yesterday the quality was very good... It would be a bonus for sure if pod2g and planet being had a jailbreak up their sleeves for the Apple TV as well... How bout you suby any themes you working on?

I wouldn't really use the Netflix streaming. All of my Blu-ray players/TVs/ATV have Netflix on them already. I do like the fact that they're trying to compete with Apple though. Hopefully Apple will add some cool new features to the already awesome ATV!

I have the newest iPad and i5 so I'm sure Ill get the Apple TV as well but it's nice that the ps3 videos don't have to be in iTunes format I can stream navy format and so far from what I've tried since yesterday the quality was very good... It would be a bonus for sure if pod2g and planet being had a jailbreak up their sleeves for the Apple TV as well... How bout you suby any themes you working on?

No themes my friend :/. Just haven't had the desire lately.

Also yes. A jailbreak would change things a lot. My atv2 is jailbroken and stream unofficial file formats daily to it. With plex.